Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 39 Evil Spirits
Not long after, Li Wuxiang heard voices in the yard. It was Chen Xiu talking to her mother, her voice was very low, completely lacking her usual lively and cheerful tone. Li Wuxiang had sharp senses and could hear some of it clearly -

"Then, then are you telling the truth? Is he just making it up? He's not a good person..."

Then Liu Jiao's voice came: "Don't think about it, don't keep bringing it up, it's okay if you don't want to think about it."

"Then I won't say anything... But I can't help but wonder what to do? Mom, how about I sleep with you tonight..."

"Then go and bring the bedding and pillows to my room first, and take your father's out."

"Then my father..."

The voices gradually faded away, and they must have gone into the house. Then there was a knock on Zhao Qi's door, and Chen Xin said outside the door: "Master, Master, are you asleep?"

Zhao Qi put down the pen in his hand, picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip of tea. He leaned back in his chair and said, "Come in and talk. How was your visit?"

"Hey." Chen Xin pushed open the door and saw Li Wuxiang, but he didn't seem to have the heart to greet him. He just nodded and closed the door. "Master, I have asked clearly. He was the only one who saw it last night. He talked nonsense in the afternoon, but I have asked someone to lock him up at home. This matter... I haven't heard of it in the town before, so I can't say whether what he said is true or not... Master, please take the trouble to go and take a closer look?"

Zhao Qi nodded: "What did he say?"

"He said--"

"Forget it." Zhao Qi waved his hand again, interrupting Chen Xin's words, "You are so tongue-tied that you can't learn anything. Is he being taken care of in his family? I'll go ask in person."

Chen Xin bowed his head and smiled apologetically: "Now that the Immortal Master has come forward, we can all rest assured."

Zhao Qi ignored him and stood up, walked to the wall and took down the sword hanging on the wall. He turned around and shouted, "Go ahead!"

He threw the sword to Li Wuxiang, who quickly caught it. The scabbard and hilt of the sword were made of plain wood, with only a few places covered with brass, but the edges and patterns had turned black, indicating that it had been there for some time.

Zhao Qi turned around to look at him holding the sword and smiled slightly: "This sword belongs to your master. I held the sword like this for him. Okay, follow me."

He turned and walked out, and Li Wuxiang hurriedly followed behind him. Chen Xin pulled his sleeve and said, as if he was advising his own child, "Take good care of your master."

Zhao Qi frowned, but didn't want to get angry about it, so he snorted and stepped into the night.

The place they were going to was in the north of the town, which was not very prosperous to begin with, and there were even fewer people on the street at this time. It was already dark, and the street was deserted. Zhao Qi walked very fast, and Li Wuxiang had to jog a little to keep up. After walking through two alleys, Zhao Qi spoke: "Have you ever seen an evil spirit before?"

I didn't know how to answer. But Li Wuxiang remembered what Chen Xiu had just said, so he whispered, "I...my parents didn't allow me to ask before, saying that asking would only cause more trouble..."

Zhao Qi smiled and said, "You will inevitably see this kind of thing in the future. You will do whatever I say in a while." "Yes." Li Wuxiang quickened his pace and followed him. He felt that Zhao Qi seemed to be in a good mood tonight... No, when he knocked on the door to find him, he was not very happy. He seemed to be happy after hearing what Chen Xin said that there was indeed an evil spirit. Why? Because he felt that he, the immortal master who was in charge of a place, could be put to use?
But Zhao Qi doesn't seem like someone who would care about such things.

A quarter of an hour later, Li Wuxiang saw the house where the evil spirit was. It was a small courtyard surrounded by a low loess wall, with listless grass growing on the top of the wall. There was only one small house in the courtyard, also with loess walls, thatched roof, and small windows. The courtyard was at the northernmost end of the town, with bamboo forests and mountains behind it. The nearest neighbor was separated from it by a muddy ditch and a pile of firewood.

Two soldiers were guarding the door, leaning on sticks and whispering. When they saw someone coming, they shuddered as if they were frightened. When they saw it was Zhao Qi and Li Wuxiang, they breathed a sigh of relief and ran over in a hurry: "Master, Master Zhao, his family is inside."

Zhao Qi glanced at them and said, "You two go back first."

The garrison soldier said nothing, nodded as he ran, and disappeared into the night in a few breaths.

Zhao Qi pushed open the door and walked straight into the courtyard, saying as he walked: "Listen carefully. The evil spirits we usually talk about can be roughly divided into three categories. The first category is ghosts, but they can also be divided into two types. One type is those who still have some obsessions after death and haunt the living. But this type has no malicious intent, and sometimes they will leave on their own, or be cursed to be sent to the underworld, and they will not intentionally harm people."

"There is another kind, the evil ghost. After a person dies, because of obsession, they occasionally go to the spiritual place between heaven and earth and gain some spiritual power. This kind of evil ghost is also confused at first, and does not really want to harm people. But the yin and evil spirits on their bodies are too heavy, and when they entangle people, they mean death. After entangled and killed many people, they gradually become intelligent and become evil spirits."

Li Wuxiang followed behind with his sword in his arms, memorizing every word. What Zhao Qi said was not rumors from his original world, but professional content told by a professional, which was exactly what he needed to know. While Zhao Qi was taking a breath, he immediately asked, "Master, how do we distinguish which is a ghost and which is an evil ghost?"

"Everything you can see is an evil spirit."

Li Wuxiang's heart trembled and he nodded slightly.

"The second category is monsters. Monsters are also divided into two types. One type is those who often accompany practitioners, or have the opportunity to listen to sutras and preaching, and have awakened their spiritual wisdom. When you meet this type, you can call them fellow Taoists, but don't get close to them, and there is no need to provoke them. After all, they are different species. The other type is demons, which are also those who accidentally broke into the spiritual land and awakened their minds. This type of monster has no knowledge of education and etiquette, and its likes and dislikes are all based on nature. Nine out of ten of them will cause harm to the local area, and they are also evil spirits."

"Master, how do we divide this?"

Zhao Qi walked to the door and stopped, glanced at Li Wuxiang, and smiled: "Anyone who reveals his true form in front of you is a demon."

"The third category is human demons. Some people who are possessed by external evil and not killed in time will lose their minds and become human demons."

Li Wuxiang clenched his sword in an instant and took a deep breath, which prevented him from tearing off his clothes and swallowing Zhao Qi's head into his stomach - he almost thought that Zhao Qi knew about his affairs and was going to take action!

But after Zhao Qi said this, he turned around, pushed open the door and walked in.

The room was small, with only one room. Next to the door was an earthen stove with a small pot on it. Next to the stove were two jars, one large and one small. The large one had a lid on it and was half full of water. The small one had its lid halfway covered, revealing half a jar of rice bran. An oil lamp was lit on the stove, with only a pool of oil left at the bottom, providing a rice-sized flame.

The firelight illuminated a person squatting beside a broken bed next to the stove. His head was wrapped in dark brown cloth, and his eyes were wide open because of fear. It was Chen Sanyao, who was holding a hatchet.

(End of this chapter)